XP computers network fine...new Vista machine will not connect

[Greg]

We have XP computers and an external hard drive on a network, all working
fine. Just got a new Vista computer right out of the box and I can not get
it to do anything with the network and none of the other computers can see it
either. There are no fancy setups, just a small business network. There
isnt even an internet connection we need to deal with. With Vista, all i can
see is an "unidentified network" as being seen but it doesnt seem to do
anything with it. Yes I know all the computers are set to WORKGROUP and
everything is spelled correctly. What other ideas can fix this?

 

[Mick Murphy]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Have a read of the above link re Vista File and Printer Sharing.

Permissions/Share info is there as well.

If using Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro I.S., make sure file and printer
sharing is enabled in THEIR firewall .(LAN allowed)

1st thing to do is make sure that the Workgroup Name of ALL the computers is
the SAME.

In Vista Network and Sharing:

Network Discovery: ON (So it can see the other computers)

Network set to Private (Public is for hotspots, airports, etc)

File Sharing: ON

Public Folder Sharing: ON (Vista’s Public Folder is the same as XP’s Shared
Docs)

Password Protected: OFF (unless you want to set up identical usernames, and
passwords (they can be different) on ALL computers in your Network). If you
have it ON, you will be asked for a username and password when you try to
access a Vista computer from an XP computer, or a Vista Computer.

Also, If you haven’t done so already, run XP’s Network Setup Wizard (in
Start >All Programs >Accessories >Communications), and tell the Wizard to
enable File and Printer Sharing.
Or > Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Set up a Home or Small
Office Network.

 

[Greg]

Im slowly going through everything in that link but not finding anything
helpful so far.

And with your help, I tried everything and nothing is making a difference.
I turned off Mcafee Firewall totally, both computers are called WORKGROUP,
Vista has discovery as ON, network set to private (though for some reason its
always changing back to public after several minutes!?!?!), Folder and
printer sharing is set to ON, Password protect is set to OFF. Also its still
calling it "Unidentified Network", not sure what this means, it doesnt let me
type something in place of that either.

Also ran the network wizard on XP and it didnt do anything different from
how things are going with it now. XP still has all the access to everything
but to the Vista, and Vista doesnt have access to anything at all but itself

 

[Tom Allen]

snip

, both computers are called WORKGROUP,

snip
That is a typo isn't it , you don't really mean that do you ?
- just in case

Tom

 

[Greg]

Well I meant they are both told to connect to WORKGROUP, not the computer
names